“I looked at my altimeter watch: 7,000 meters or 22,965 feet.” This is just one of the great and exhilarating quotes from the book Peak, by Roland Smith.  The book is about a kid named Peak a 14-year-old boy who is a talented young climber with dreams of climbing Mt. Everest. He climbs a skyscraper but gets caught and arrested by the NYPD. He has to go to court to await his punishment with the judge having a change of heart he goes to his dad's place in Taiwan. Peak’s dad surprises him with the chance to climb Mount Everest to be the youngest person to ever finish the climb. He has to go through lots of obstacles to climb the mountain, such as running from the Chinese government and deadly diseases. All these obstacles make Peak’s climb more challenging and getting there before his birthday even less likely.

Peak has diverse characters to match a good plot; they all serve a role in enhancing the story. The genre of the book is realistic fiction which makes it feel more real. This book has many page-turners to keep you reading and interested in the characters and the book. This was one of my favorite books and I definitely recommend it. For the skill level, I think 5th grade and up could comprehend the book better than younger kids. It was not choppy at all; it was really easy to follow the book and know what was going on. The ending was a little disappointing, but overall, it was a 9/10 would recommend it.